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Thomas Jefferson on a new patent law

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

Be it enacted [by Congress] … that when any person shall have invented any new and useful art, machine or composition of matter or any new or useful improvement … and shall desire to have an exclusive property in the same, he shall pay … the sum of __ dollars … shall deposit a description of the said inventions in writing … shall accompany it with drawings and written references and also with exact models … After which it shall not be lawful for any person without the permission of the owner … to make or sell the thing so invented … for a term of 14 years.
… it shall be lawful for the said inventor to assign his title …
… after the expiration of any exclusive right to an invention, the public shall have … access to the descriptions, drawings, models and specimens … to be enabled to copy them …
A Bill to Promote the Progress of the Useful Arts, February 7, 1791
Padover’s The Complete Jefferson, P. 995-997

Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Jefferson originally opposed all patents, but administering an existing patent law fell to him as President Washington’s Secretary of State. He found it a difficult, hands-on, time-consuming obligation.
He drafted this bill to make patenting more of an administrative function and less of an examining one. An amended version wasn’t adopted until two years later, and it made the granting of patents almost automatic.
Jefferson thought inventions were primarily for the public good, not for the amassing of private gain: “Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property.” Still, he recognized the necessary incentive granted by a patent:  “Society may give an exclusive right to the profits arising from them, as an encouragement to men to pursue ideas which may produce utility, but this may or may not be done according to the will and convenience of society … ”
(TJ to Isaac McPherson, Aug. 13, 1813, Padover’s The Complete Jefferson, P. 1011-1017)
Monticello’s web site features more information on the subject.
Jefferson was a noted inventor but never patented any of his creations. He might have fared better financially had he done so.

Bring Thomas Jefferson’s inventiveness to your audience!
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739, to schedule a presentation.

Leave a comment Posted in Commerce, Intellectual pursuits

Thomas Jefferson on the garden

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

I have often thought that if Heaven had given me choice of my position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of the garden. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden … Under a total want of demand except for our family table, I am still devoted to the garden. But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.
To C. W. Peale, 1811, 3803

Patrick Lee’s Explanation
I was jazzed about Monday’s post (May 14, 2012) and decided to stay on the gardening theme. You will recognize the last sentence above. I used it to close Monday’s account.
Jefferson always loved experimenting with plants and did so throughout his life! It wasn’t until his retirement that he could give himself wholeheartedly to that endeavor. At this writing, age 68, Jefferson was two years into that retirement, knowing that nothing would ever draw him away from his beloved lands (and garden!) again for any length of time.
Did you notice that the title of Peter Hatch’s book, A Rich Spot of Earth (from Monday) was drawn from this letter?

Jefferson’s interests will inspire your audience!
Invite him to speak.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2730

Leave a comment Posted in Horticulture, Personal preferences

Thomas Jefferson on NPR

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

No, this post isn’t Jefferson writing about National Public Radio.
It is an NPR story on Thomas Jefferson’s garden at Monticello. “All Things Considered” aired the account on May 10, 2012. It is an excellent overview!
NPR interviewed Peter Hatch, a Monticello employee for 35 years and director of Monticello’s gardens and grounds. Hatch is the man primarily responsible for re-creating Jefferson’s monumental garden. He has authored a new book, “A Rich Spot of Earth”: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden at Monticello. 
- Here’s the audio story: http://n.pr/KlCTIZ  It’s 8 ½ minutes long.
- If you prefer to read it, here’s the text of that story: http://n.pr/JbrZrB
- Here’s a companion piece on NPR’s food blog, “The Salt”: http://n.pr/K9VK5k  At the top are 11 photos to scroll through.
- Near the bottom of “The Salt” article, is this link, http://bit.ly/JzItWx , to some Jefferson-era recipes. (If you back up one page, you’ll find a long but delightful paragraph on the disciplines of running a household. It is attributed to “M. Randolph, Washington, January, 1824.” This is either Jefferson’s daughter Martha Randolph or Martha’s sister-in-law. It is excellent advice yet today.
Jefferson loved gardening! In 1811, at age 68, he wrote to C. W. Peale, “But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.” (3803)

Invite Thomas Jefferson to speak to your audience.
(On gardens, or any other subject!)
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739

 

Leave a comment Posted in Horticulture, Personal preferences

Thomas Jefferson on establishing a public library

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

… every year there shall be paid out of the treasury the sum of two thousand pounds, to be laid out in such books and maps as may be proper to be preserved in a public library … at the town of Richmond.
The two houses of Assembly shall appoint three persons of learning and of attention to literary matters, to be visiters [Webster’s 7th Collegiate: “one that makes formal visits of inspection”] … to receive the annual sums before mentioned, and therewith to Procure such books and maps as aforesaid, and shall superintend the preservation thereof … Whensoever a keeper shall be found necessary they shall appoint such keeper, from time to time, at their will, on such annual salary (not exceeding one hundred pounds) as they shall think reasonable.
If during the time of war the importation of books and maps shall be hazardous … the visiters shall place the annual sums … in the treasury until fit occasions shall occur of employing them.
It shall not be lawful for the said keeper, or the visiters themselves, or any other person to remove any book or map out of the said library …but the same shall be made useful … within the said library, without fee or reward …
The visiters shall annually settle their accounts with the Auditors and leave with them the vouchers for the expenditure of the monies put into their hands.
From the Report of the Revisors, 1779
Taken from Padover’s The Complete Jefferson, P. 1054 – 1055

Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Jefferson spent the Revolutionary War years helping revise Virginia’s statutes. Promoting an educated citizenry was one of his passions. The entire statute was less than 400 words and fit on one page of paper. Its key provisions:
1. The Legislature shall fund a public library with 2,000 pounds per year. (A search of multiple web sites gave me no clear idea how many dollars that was in 1779 or an equivalent value in 2012.)
2. A board of three visiters (Jefferson’s spelling), learned and literary men, shall govern all aspects of the library.
3. A librarian may be appointed, whose maximum salary shall be no more than 5% of the annual budget.
4. During wartime, the annual appropriation may be escrowed until the money could be safely spent.
5. This was not a lending library. All books and maps were to be used on-site only, without expense to the user.
6. The visiters were responsible for an annual accounting of library funds.
Jefferson’s proposal was not adopted.

What other ideas does Thomas Jefferson have
for the benefit of your audience?
Invite him to speak and find out!
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739

Leave a comment Posted in Education, Intellectual pursuits

Thomas Jefferson on exercise

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

I repeat my advice, to take a great deal of exercise, and on foot. Health is the first requisite after morality.
Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787
Padover’s The Complete Jefferson, P. 1057 – 1060

Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Health is second only to morality as a requirement meaningful life.
This is the conclusion of a long letter to his 17-year-old nephew, a son of his sister Martha and her husband, Dabney Carr, Jefferson’s best friend. Carr died in 1773, at age 30, leaving his widow with six young children. Jefferson took an active role in guiding his sister’s offspring.
The purpose of the letter was to guide Peter’s education. Prior to this advice, he counseled his nephew on studying Italian (not recommended), Spanish (recommended), moral philosophy (a waste of time), religion (keep an open mind, guided by reason only), on travel abroad (not recommended, especially for young men). He included exercise as an essential part of a broad education.
Jefferson’s closing sentence was, “Write to me often, and be assured of the interest I take in your success, as well as the warmth of those sentiments of attachment with which I am, dear Peter, your affectionate friend.”

Learn what advice (beyond exercise, that is)
Thomas Jefferson has for your audience.
Invite him to speak!
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739

1 Comment Posted in Health, Personal preferences

Thomas Jefferson on whites and blacks living together peacefully?

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

It will probably be asked, why not retain and incorporate the blacks into the State, and thus save the expense of supplying by importation of white settlers, the vacancies they will leave? Deep-rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which nature has made; and many other circumstances will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions, which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race.
Notes on Virginia, 1782, 5822

Patrick Lee’s Explanation
One of Jefferson’s “solutions” to the issue of slavery was to free them and resettle them elsewhere, perhaps the Caribbean but more likely, Africa. That would entail the expense of importing white workers to take their place, the question raised in the first sentence above. Wouldn’t it be easier simply to incorporate freed slaves into society?
Jefferson believed former slaves could not co-exist peacefully alongside former slave owners. Why?
- “Deep-rooted prejudices” by whites
- Vastly multiplied and unforgettable injuries suffered by blacks
- Future occasions for offense
- Skin color would always mark their former status. (Jefferson noted that Roman slaves, once freed, could melt into society, because they looked no different from their former masters. African slaves lacked that advantage.)
- Although he hoped to be proven wrong, he considered there might be biological or intellectual shortcomings among slaves. He did not know whether such differences were natural or the degrading result of slavery.
- “Many other circumstances” – You fill in the blanks.
The result of forced co-habitation could only be segregation and violence.
Removal was just one of several courses Jefferson proposed to deal with the issue of slavery. It was no more successful than any of the others.

The slave-owner who wrote “all men are created equal”
would appreciate the opportunity to speak to your audience
on this and other weighty matters.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739

Leave a comment Posted in Human nature, Slavery

Thomas Jefferson on impeaching judges

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

Having found from experience that impeachment is an impracticable thing, a mere scarecrow, they [the Judiciary] consider themselves secure for life.
To Thomas Ritchie, 1820, 3856

In the General Government in this instance, we have gone even beyond the English caution, by requiring a vote of two-thirds, in one of the Houses, for removing a Judge; a vote so impossible, where any defence is made, before men of ordinary prejudices and passions, that our Judges are effectually independent of the nation. But this ought not to be.
Autobiography, 1821, 3857

Experience has proved that impeachment in our [constitutional] forms is completely inefficient.
To Edward Livingston, 1825, 3855

Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Jefferson was not anti-judge or anti-judiciary. He was very much opposed to any government official or operation that was not answerable in some way to its citizens. Justices with a lifetime appointment were not answerable to anyone. Nor, in his opinion, were the Constitution’s impeachment provisions adequate for removing a judge from office.
Several times Jefferson proposed other means to hold judges accountable. While never adopted, they involved term limits or allowing the President and both houses of Congress acting together to remove a justice. The purpose was not to control the judiciary arbitrarily but to prevent judges from being above the law themselves.

Invite Thomas Jefferson to inspire, teach and entertain your audience.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739

Leave a comment Posted in Constitutional issues, Judiciary

Thomas Jefferson on decreasing taxes

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

But the great mass of public offices is established by law, and, therefore, by law alone can be abolished. Should the legislature think it expedient to pass this roll in review, and try all its parts by the test of public utility, they may be assured of every aid and light which executive information can yield. Considering the general tendency to multiply offices and dependencies, and to increase expense to the ultimate term of burden which the citizen can bear, it behooves us to avail ourselves of every occasion which presents itself for taking off the surcharge; that it may never be seen here that, after leaving to labor the smallest portion of its earnings on which it can subsist, government shall itself consume the residue of what it was instituted to guard.
First Annual Message to Congress, Dec. 8, 1801

Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Just 12 years from its founding, Jefferson believed the national government was doing more, employing more and taxing more than the Constitution intended. In this passage, he took on the growth in government employment and the taxes required to support that growth. To summarize:
- Most offices were established by law (read: Congress) and could only be abolished in the same way.
- If Congress wanted to review the usefulness of these offices, they would have his full support.
- Since government tended to multiply and thus tax its citizens accordingly, it was necessary to look for every opportunity to decrease that tax burden.
- America must not so tax its citizens as to leave them with barely enough of their own money to scrape by, and then take the rest, too.
- Government was created to guard private property, not consume it.
Jefferson witnessed this in Europe, where government power and privilege ground the masses into helpless, hopeless poverty.
This message was what we call today the “State of the Union” address. It is required by Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, that the Executive shall report to the Congress “from time to time.”
Presidents Washington and Adams gave their messages in person as speeches to Congress. Jefferson thought that smacked of a king addressing his subjects. He delivered his annual messages in writing, a practice that continued until President Woodrow Wilson in 1913.

What protections does Thomas Jefferson desire for your audience?
Find out! Invite him to speak.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739

3 Comments Posted in Government's proper role, Taxes

Thomas Jefferson on the purposes of a university, Part 2

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

… the Commissioners were first to consider at what point it was understood that university education should commence? … And this brings us to the … higher branches of education, of which the Legislature require the development; those, for example, which are …
To develop the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds, cultivate their morals, and instill into them the precepts of virtue and order;
To enlighten them with mathematical and physical sciences, which advance the arts, and administer to the health, the subsistence, and comforts of human life;
And, generally, to form them to habits of reflection and correct action, rendering them examples of virtue to others, and of happiness within themselves.
These are the objects of that higher grade of education, the benefits and blessings of which the Legislature now propose to provide for the good and ornament of their country, the gratification and happiness of their fellow-citizens, of the parent especially, and his progeny, on which all his affections are concentrated.
Report of the Commissioners of the University of Virginia, Aug. 4, 1818

Patrick Lee’s Explanation
The previous post (4-27-12) gave the first three purposes of a university education, drawn from this report. Today’s post gives the final three, to:
4. Develop critical thinking, for intellectual and moral growth and understanding
5. Learn the sciences which promote the arts and contribute to human comfort
6. Form habits which make them good examples to others and bring happiness to themselves
These six objects will
– Benefit the country generally
– Please its citizens, promoting happyness and health
– Be a particular blessing to the parents and their children

Thomas Jefferson has a purpose for everything,
even your audience! Invite him to speak.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739

Leave a comment Posted in Education

Thomas Jefferson on the purposes of a university, Part 1

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Thomas Jefferson

… the Commissioners were first to consider at what point it was understood that university education should commence? … And this brings us to the … higher branches of education, of which the Legislature require the development; those, for example, which are,
To form the statesmen, legislators and judges, on whom public prosperity and individual happiness are so much to depend;
To expound the principles and structure of government, the laws which regulate the intercourse of nations, those formed municipally for our own government, and a sound spirit of legislation, which, banishing all arbitrary and unnecessary restraint on individual action, shall leave us free to do whatever does not violate the equal rights of another;
To harmonize and promote the interests of agriculture, manufactures and commerce, and by well informed views of political economy to give a free scope to the public industry; …
Report of the Commissioners of the University of Virginia, Aug. 4, 1818

Patrick Lee’s Explanation
Jefferson wrote the report of these 21 commissioners, who met Aug. 1-4, 1818, at Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Commission had been charged by the Legislature to prepare detailed guidelines for a new public university.
The duties of the Commission were to recommend:
- A location (Charlottesville was chosen over Staunton and Lexington.)
- A design for the grounds. (The original design is still very much in evidence.)
- The curricula
- Qualifications of the professors
In-between the first two and last two was an explanation of the purposes of the University, our focus in this post and the next. These first three purposes could be summarized:
1. To prepare leaders on whom the public can depend
2. To promote principles of sound government and an understanding of laws which
            – Govern international relations
            – Are necessary for local government
            – Protect individuals from unnecessary or arbitrary restraint
            – Leave individuals free to do whatever they wish, provided they don’t
infringe on another’s equal rights.
3. To promote a free market economy, based on balanced interests of agriculture,
manufacture and commerce.
Monday’s post (April 30) will detail the remaining three purposes.

Thomas Jefferson has a purpose for everything,
even your audience! Invite him to speak.
Call Patrick Lee, 573-657-2739

Leave a comment Posted in Education